Saturday, May 05, 2007

Web-hers

Like most movie goers, i went to check out the much anticipated Spider-Man 3 movie last night. After all, it is the movie that jump starts this year's summer blockbuster movies. I am also a casual Spider-Man fan, having watched the old cartoons during my younger years (the old 60's one of course). Thus, i began casually collecting Spider-Man comics w/out knowing THAT much about the story or the value of comics. It wasn't until my younger teens years that i got back into Spidey again, thanks to the 90's cartoon. The cartoon really jump started my Spider-Man comic collection, as well as enhancing my knowledge of the Spider-Man universe. I went about and read every little bit of history regarding the characters and its villains to stay up to date. When the 90's cartoon ended, so did my collecting (the same can be said w/ my X-Men collecting). Every now and then, I would still check out comic stores for a couple back issues that i want, but i'm currently off the ball w/ Spider-Man comics (ie. WTF? The Civil War 'revealing', had no idea about that!).

Anyways, on to the movie. For those who've yet to watch the movie i suggest you stop reading as there's MAJOR SPOILERS. So, as a superhero trilogy film, it was very very good. Wrapped everything from the previous films quite well. The ending was quite good but leaves a little more to be desired for the usual 'Hollywood-happy-ending-goers'. The ending also felt a tad long. Now, turning on my Spider-Man geek mode/: I felt that Venom's development was rushed. Yes, I mean Venom, not Eddie Brock. Brock was developed a bit, enough to be warranted as a supporting character, rather than a minor one. The villain development obviously pales to compare w/ the previous films as we got 2 villains in Spidey 3. I never cared for Flint Marko's/Sandman's character in the comic or in the film. So his development on film was just wasted time that could've gone to fan fave Venom. However, this is Raimi's movie and he dug the Sandman character more than Venom. So, back to Venom's rushed 'development'. Venom was bulked already before Eddie Brock had to lift any weights...wtf...they didn't explain that. See, i knew Topher Grace was a mistake to be cast as him, as he's still pretty scrawny from his That 70's Show days. Another thing was, Brock getting actual fangs like Venom's teeth...wtf is that. Also, when Brock was in Venom mode, he didn't refer to himself as the third person like the comic. This is important as it's Brock and Venom's entire personality and their hate towards Spider-Man. Though, he did refer Spider-Man as "The Spider" just like in the comic. Yet this also represents an error in the movie cuz Brock's development was mostly hate towards Peter Parker and not so much towards Spider-Man (S-M), whereas in the comics, it's vice versa, though some may say he hates Parker on the same level as S-M. Most disappointing w/ Venom is the fight w/ Spidey. Not enough of it. There was more focus of Spidey & Osborn (more on that in a bit) fighting Sandman than Venom. The little bit of Spidey/Venom one on one was very sweet. Having no Spider-sense against Venom was cool, however, having no almost zero spider sense for two movies is fucked up :P. Back on topic, they should have made Spidey/Venom fight longer especially when Venom was gonna meet his demise.Gwen Stacy's appearance was worthless. Seeing as how Mary Jane basically portrayed her in the first movie, her character was simply a ploy to motivate Brock's anger towards Parker (seeing as she's his girlfriend here....WTF) as well as complicating Peter & MJ's relationship. Otherwise, a totally worthless character in contrast w/ the comic. As for Harry Osborn, very well done here. Franco is awesome. They do a good job of portraying his complicated relationship w/ Parker like in the comics. Though i found it a little corny and rushed when he turns to the 'good side' and helps S-M fight Sandman and Venom. His death was sort of similar to the comics, where he died saving Spider-Man (though they fought each other until the end before Osborn saving S-M).Finally I must mention, Bruce Campbell's cameo and i'd have to say it's the best cameo of the three. He's so awesome. It makes me want Raimi make a Evil Dead 4 soooo bad. So, was the movie worth it? for sure, to see how it all 'ends'. They obviously have enough for a bajillion of sequels, as i always though the Lizard was gonna be future villain since he was introduced in the 1st movie and appears in all three. There's also room for fan-fave Carnage as a symbiote sample was left behind (though it'd be different from Carnage's birth in the comic). Anyways, i'm reconsidering watching this again on the IMAX, but can't wait for the DVD release already.

Today's hint is Windy Tales/Fuujin Monogatari. What does it have in common w/ the others...hmmm.

yeah i couldn't find a decent pic, so i used the wall from the site :P.